Little Things
by GettingLoki'd
Summary: The McCarthy Family managed to escape the horrors of the apocolypse in New York, but as they stop in Georgia, enroute to Florida, they come across the Atlanta survivors. As the days go by, the McCarthy's hope for peace and the disease to end.
1. Chapter 1

Characters for "Little Things"

Name: Jorgia Ann McCarthy

Age: 20

Occupation: Medical Student at Columbia U.

Family: 2 parents, 3 brothers.

Name: Jonathan Bryan McCarthy

Age: 28

Occupation: Navy-Seal

Family: 2 parents, 2 brothers, 1 sister

Name: Brent Michael McCarthy

Age: 28

Occupation: Navy-Seal

Family: 2 parents, 2 brothers, 1 sister

Name: Marcus Kane McCarthy

Age: 23

Occupation: Staff Sergeant for US Marine Corps.

Family: 2 parents, 2 brothers, 1 sister

Name: Stephen Kane McCarthy

Age: 52

Occupation: Retired General

Family: 1 wife, 3 sons, 1 daughter

Name: Maranda Anne Ellison/McCarthy

Age: 49

Occupation: Surgical Chief at Memorial

Family: 1 husband, 3 sons, 1 daughter.

The McCarthy Family quickly evacuated New York City in their 3 vehicles, grabbing all the necessities they needed, making sure their family was still together, and began making their way to Florida to their secured boathouse. But along the way, they come across walkers and survivors.

Jorgia McCarthy sat in the backseat of her older brothers' truck as they made their way down the back roads. New York had been overrun by those 'things' and evacuated quickly. Thinking that only New York was hit, she was wrong, upon their journey, they came across many of those infected 'things', watching them eat away the living. The ride had been all but smooth, after raiding a gas station for fuel, food, and more medicine they continued to drive to Florida where safety is.

"Jon, I have to pee." Jorgia said when they saw the Georgia state-line. It had been clear on the roads from those things when she asked. Jon looked in his rear-view mirror and sighed, "Alright, but page mom." Jon replied sternly, Jorgia nodded and quickly paged her mom over the walkie-talkie. "Mom, pull over, I have to pee, over." A few minutes of silence, "Okay, make it quick, and check the area." As the front car pulled over, the same did for the truck and the SUV

Jorgia slowly opened the door and carried her crossbow making sure it was loaded before going to a nearby bush. Jon, Bryan, and Marcus made sure the area was clear before they both turned around and let their little sister finish her business.

"It looks overrun, we should avoid the city and take the back roads," Jon said as he peered into the distance with his binoculars. Marcus nodded and made his way to the little black Audi. Marcus knocked on the driver's window, Stephen, glancing at his son, rolled down the window. "Jon said that we should take the back roads, the city looks overrun." Marcus repeated. Stephen nodded, "Do you boys have enough fuel?" "Yeah, I have a full tank, and I think Jon does too." "Alright, let's head out already before it gets dark." "Yes sir." Marcus left and into the truck where he waited for Bryan to get in.

After Jorgia was done with her business, her and Jon walked back into the truck and was on the road again, "I hope all of this will be over soon." Jorgia said to herself and watched as the scenery passed through them.

MEANWHILE:

Daryl Dixon sat on a log in the woods, hunting for his and the camps next meal. After killing his 14th squirrel, he noticed it had begun to get dark and made back to camp. Trudging his crossbow along and his kills. It had been walker-free for three days so far, and he hoped it stayed that way. But he knew that luck was never on his side.

"Daryl, com' er' you damn bitch." Yelled his older brother Merle. Daryl rolled his eyes and dropped the dead animals on a seat. "What the fuck d'you want?" Merle cleaned his rifle and grabbed a whole bunch of ammo. "I'm gunna go wit them idiots to the city. You goin' r not." Merle said, Daryl shook his head no. "Nah, I'm gun' go hunt bring back sum food." With that the two departed and went their separate ways. "You all be safe, and come back safe." Dale said as he stood on top of his RV. The group consisted of Glenn, Andrea, Morales, T-Dog, Jacqui, and Merle, they all made their way into the truck and immediately left for Atlanta, hoping to get their supplies and leave without trouble, but with a huge group and Merle along, trouble may be waiting for them.

After 20 minutes since the group left for Atlanta, Dale stood on watch, keeping his eye out for any walkers or survivors on the back road. "Well I'll be damned, SHANE!" Dale yelled, Shane looked up from his conversation with Lori when he saw the look on the older man's face. "We have survivors!" Dale exclaimed, that made everyone in the camp look up and quickly reached the side of the road, true to his word, everyone saw a sleek black Audi, a black Suburban, and a black Tahoe slowly made their way to the camp.

The first car came to a complete stop; first to step out was a tall white man with black-grey hair, next his wife a small average height woman. "Hello, I'm Stephen McCarthy, this is my wife Maranda. Are you in need of help?" Stephen said, Shane shook his head, "No, no this is our camp, you and your family are welcome to stay if you'd like, as long as you're not a threat and not bit or scratched by the walkers." Stephen gave a confused look when Shane had said 'Walkers'. "Excuse me, but walkers?" Shane shrugged his shoulders, "It's a better term than what we would call them, but please, like I said, you and your family are more than welcome to become a part of our camp. It's been safe of the walkers for about 2 weeks now, we can ensure safety and hospitality." Stephen contemplated and looked to his wife, "I'll have to discuss it with my family, and will you excuse us?" Shane nodded and the two made their way to the second car, "Do you think we should trust them?" Amy asked, "They seem trustworthy, I mean, they have a whole family." Lori replied while glancing towards the new group of survivors, everyone all looked to see 3 fit men and 1 small girl exit their vehicles and all huddle to discuss joining.

"They're a camp of survivors, they asked us to stay. We'll take a vote on whether or not we keep moving, or stay with them until then." Stephen explained to his family, "Is that safe? To stay? I mean, what happens if something goes wrong?" Jorgia asked, worry shown in her eyes. "Jorgia's right, it would just take us longer to get to Florida, and they could be an endangerment to us all." Jon agreed, "This isn't permanent, I'm just saying, let's stay, rest up. If we feel like our stay is long overdue, we'll pack and leave." The 6 all looked around the huddle, "I'm in," said Brent, "Me too" Marcus added, "I'm also in. I'm sure these people could use some medical help." Maranda explained, the four of them looked towards Jorgia and Jon. "You know, either way, you both are outvoted." Marcus said while shrugging his shoulders. "So it's been settled, let's go park our cars near their camp." With that being said, Stephen gave a nod to Shane signaling that his family will be part of their camp.

After everything was in place and settled, the McCarthy family walked to the center of the camp, and was surrounded by the new faces.

"Everyone, this is Stephen McCarthy and his wife Maranda and his children." Shane started, "Hello, I'm Stephen McCarthy, I'm a retired U.S Marine General and 52." Stephen told the group, "I'm Maranda, his wife. I'm 49, I'm a Medical Doctor and used to be the Surgical Chief." Maranda said next, "I'm Jonathan, Navy-Seal. 28." "Brent, Navy-Seal, 28." "Marcus, STAFF SERGEANT U.S MARINE CORPS. I'm 23." "And, I'm Jorgia, and it's not spelt G-E-O-R-G-I-A, it's J-O-R-G-I-A, and before everything went down, I used to be a med student at Columbia." The rest of the camp had introduced them also, and the McCarthy's all dispersed and had set up 2 tents next to a tree.

After they had settled in, Maranda went with the women, which consisted of Lori, Amy, and Carol to the quarry and helped with the laundry. "So Maranda, did you know how the infection spread when you were at the hospital?" Lori asked, "To be honest, no. I was in surgery when all of a sudden we heard screaming coming from the hallways. I couldn't stop working so my team and I finished up. I've never had to transplant a kidney so fast in my life before. When we finished, my husband and sons burst through the doors and yelled for my team and I to get out and go home quickly. He explained that an infection was spreading and to look out for anyone who looked sick or out of the ordinary and kill them." Maranda explained, the women around her looked at her in silence. "It was horrifying. To see a human being eating others; Stephen had stopped by the Jorgia's university to see the students all in havoc, we picked her up and drove back to our townhouse and packed everything we needed, canned food, clothes, money, weapons, you name it. We cleaned our house, security-locked it and left."

"How did you end up in Georgia?" Lori asked, "We have a safe home in Florida. It's under ground; my husband thought that if America would to be under attack from terrorist, he would need something or somewhere to build a safe room to protect his family. We were supposed to pass by Atlanta, but my son said it looked overrun, so we took the back roads. We saw your friend Dale, and we thought we stopped, we haven't seen survivors in so long." "I'm glad you and your family stopped. It gave us hope that humanity isn't lost, and glad to see new faces." Maranda smiled and the other women did the same.

Shane, Jon, Brent, Marcus and Stephen huddled together on top of one of the vehicles, a map spread out. "Fort Bennett is heard to be a safe haven. We'll be able to have safety and weapons." Shane pointed out, "My friend, he's stationed there, it could be still up." Marcus said. "If anything, that would be our next location." The five all nodded, but the three McCarthy boys glanced to their father and received a nod, letting them know that when they leave, so will they.

"Jorgia? Jorgia, honey; its time to eat." Maranda called out, as she held out a plate of bread and 2 large pieces of meat. Maranda didn't receive a response and worry began to fill her body, "Stephen, have you seen Jorgia?" Stephen shook his head, "I thought she was with you down at the quarry." Maranda gave a confused look, "No, no she wasn't. I figured she was with you and the boys." Maranda and Stephen gave each other wide eyes and rushed to find their daughter, "Jorgia!" "Jorgia!" the both of them yelled, Stephen grabbed his gun and went into the woods. After 10 minutes of searching, he found his daughter in a tree reading her book. "Jesus Christ, Jorgia." Stephen sighed; Jorgia looked up from her book and saw her father, "Dad? What's going on?" "Me and your mother have been looking for you! Honey, when you leave and are not with anyone, you tell someone okay, now come down and eat, your sugar must be low." With that, Jorgia slowly climbed down from the tree, her large book in her hands, and walked back to camp with her father.

"Oh my! There you are! Are you okay?" Maranda exclaimed when she saw her husband and daughter walk from the forest line and into view of the camp. "Have you checked your blood sugar? My goodness, you look pale." Jorgia slowly shook her head, "No, I ate a snickers bar before I went into the tree, it was 107." Maranda shook her head in disapproval. "One of these days Jorgia, you're going to give your poor mother a heart attack. Come, I got you a plate of dinner ready." With that Maranda and Jorgia both made their way to the campfire and ate their dinner with the rest of the camp. "How much insulin do you have left in your? We may need to stop at a clinic or hospital to get you some more until we reach Florida." Stephen said to his daughter, "I think I have enough for the next month." Jorgia said softly, nibbling on her bread. "Mom, what's insulin?" Carl asked as he looked to his mother, "It's a type of medicine for diabetic people." Lori said unsure of the term, looking to Maranda, "Insulin is like a candy bar Carl, it gives you sugar in case you don't have enough. Jorgia here is a diabetic. She needs it to maintain the glucose-or sugar- she needs in her body. Without insulin, she could be in big trouble." She explained trying to break in to term for Carl to understand. "How does she do that?" Maranda looked to Jorgia, Jorgia nodded and got up from her seat and sat next to Carl and Sophia holding her 'pdm'. "This is my P.D.M or Personal Diabetes Manager, it can tell me where I am with my sugar, if it's below 100, it means I'm low, if it's over 150 I'm high, which is a bad thing." she said pointing to it, next she lifted her shirt, to reveal a small bod on the back of her body, "and this is my pod. It pumps insulin into my system so I don't have to deal with needles or draw blood." Jorgia explained, "What happens if you're low or high?" Sophia asked in interest, "If I'm low, I could be in danger to my body. I can faint and could loose contact of my surroundings. If I'm high, it could raise my blood sugar and give me a heart attack and could kill me. Well two of those can kill me. I have to be responsible to take care of myself, I'm an adult now and I have to make sure I act like one." Carl and Sophia nodded, knowing that they would have to start taking responsibility; Lori and Carol gave Jorgia smiles in helping them learn. "Can you show us?" Sophia asked anxiously. "Sure" Jorgia smiled, she grabbed her PDM and turned it on. "Sheila, check my blood sugar please." There was a small pause until a female robotic voice rang out, "Yes Ms. Jorgia, checking sugar now…Blood sugar count is 118." Carl and Sophia's eyes widened in amazement, "That. Is. So. COOL!" Carl exclaimed and everyone around the camp laughed, "Alright kids, it's time to leave Miss Jorgia and head onto bed, go say goodnight." Lori said, "Goodnight Miss Jorgia!" both Sophia and Carl said and each gave her an unexpected hug. Jorgia's eyes widened in shock and both rubbed their backs, "Goodnight guys, see you tomorrow!" with that the two kids went into their tents and turned in for the night. "Have a good night McCarthy's. See you in the morning." Shane told the family as they all headed into their respective tent and turned in also.

Jorgia laid on right side of the tent and snuggled deep into her mothers arms, "Mom, can you sing me a lullaby, like you used to?" Jorgia whispered, "Sure honey," Maranda replied softly, Stephen smiled and kissed his little girl and wife and snuggled deep with them.

"My precious one, my tiny one, lay down your pretty head.

My dearest one, my sleepy one, its time to go to bed," Maranda begun softly, Jorgia smiled and slowly closed her eyes at the softness of her voice.

"My precious one, my darling one don't let your lashes weep.

My cherished one my weary one it's time to go to sleep.

Just bow your head and give your cares to me.

Just close your eyes and fall into the sweetest dream, cause in my loving arms.

Your safe as you will ever be so hush my dear and sleep.

And in your dreams you'll ride on angels wings.

Dance with the stars and touch the face of god

And if you should awake I'll send you back to sleep.

My precious one, my tiny one, I'll kiss your little cheek," Maranda kissed her daughter's cheek and smiled softly at her little princess sleeping soundly with a small smile on her face.

"And underneath the smiling moon I'll sing you back to sleep" Maranda looked down and let a single tear fall from her eye and tightened her grip on her sweet baby girl and hoped that this would all be over so that they can all enjoy the rest of their lives in peace.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning Jorgia was the last one to wake up, after sleeping peacefully the night before because of her mother's singing, she finally had a decent sleep since the outbreak started. Stretching her legs and arms; she slowly rose from her sleeping bag and carefully brushed her long curly jet-black hair. Checking her surroundings, she saw a fresh pair of clean clothes folded neatly in the corner of the tent. She grabbed her clothes and quickly changed and grabbed her toothbrush and toothpaste and headed to the quarry.

"Good morning Miss Jorgia!" said Sophia and Carl, the Morales children waved and the four kids all came up to her and hugged her. "Morning guys, let me freshen up and I'll come play with you guys deal?" Jorgia said, the kids all cheered and continued playing around the camp. Smiling softly, she made her way into the woods and to the quarry where she saw her mom and Carol again washing dishes and clothes. "Morning Mom, Carol. The three of them looked up and smiled, "Morning," they replied, Maranda stood up from her position and hugged her daughter, "I have your breakfast in the Audi. It's not much, but it's enough to get you by until your brothers and Daryl come back from their hunt." With that Jorgia grabbed the bottle water next to her mother and began brushing her teeth.

Walking back feeling fresh, Jorgia walked back to the campsite, ate her breakfast which consisted of a cereal bar, a granola bar, and orange squeeze orange juice. After she was done, she kept her deal with the kids and began playing with them.

"You're daughter is so beautiful," Carol said softly as she washed her husband's clothes. "Thank you, she gets her looks all from Stephen." Maranda thanked, "Your daughter Sophia is beautiful as well, I can see a miniature you. Beautiful eyes." Maranda cooed. "Thank you, she's my little angel." Carol smiled, "I get what you mean, after having 3 boys, I wished God this time to give me a girl, prayer answered and now I got my little princess." Maranda joked, "I always loved dressing up Sophia, she would have so much fun playing princess." Carol reminisced. "I wish Jorgia had done that, living with 4 males they all wanted to made sure she knew how to survive. I'm glad she did though, it came to good use." Carol nodded, "I wish Sophia and I did, I don't know how we lasted this long to be honest." Maranda stopped and looked to Carol, she gingerly placed her hand on top of Carol's. "Carol, if there is anything you need, or someone to talk to, you know I am always here to listen." Maranda said gingerly. Carol nodded gratefully and the two went back to their chores.

The survivors all stood around the camp, when Lori was giving her son Carl a hair cut, and Shane talking about frog legs when all of a sudden a blaring alarm echoed through the mountains. Shane looked over to Dale, "Talk to me Dale," he said as he stood up. Dale shook his head, "I can't tell yet," and looked through his binoculars. He followed the movement and saw a red top moving at a fast pace. Amy looked up in concern, "Is it them? Are they back?!" No one answered, but they all stood up to see. "Well I'll be damned," Dale said as he saw the red Dodge speed through the roads. "What is it?" Jorgia asked, "Stolen car is my guess," Dale answered. The red Dodge came to a halt, and Glenn stumbled out with a smile on his face, Amy quickly went to his side and asked is Andrea was okay, "Yes, she's fine, we're all fine. Well cept Merle." Glenn answered; Shane and Jim disabled the alarm and furiously yelled at Glenn. "You crazy driving this up here? Trying to attract walkers for miles?" "I think we're okay," Shane gave Dale a dirty look, "I'm not arguing, I'm just saying," he then turned to Glenn, "it wouldn't hurt you to think twice next time." Dale scolded like a father. Glenn got a sullen look and apologized, "at least I got a cool car." He shrugged; Glenn and everyone turned when they saw a white moving van pull up. Glenn then looked back and saw some new faces, but the attention was turned back to the van when the group piled out and hugged the rest of the camp. "How'd ya'll get out there anyway?" Shane asked, "New guy, got us out." Glenn answered, "Yeah, hey helicopter man! Come on and say hi!" Morales said as he hugged his family, "he's a cop, like you." He told Shane. Everyone saw a man in a sheriff uniform exit the van and Carl turned to him, surprise drawn over his face and ran to the new man. "Dad!" Carl yelled as he ran to hug his father. Lori, shocked, hugged her husband tight as they all embraced like a big family.

"I can't believe it," Shane exclaimed as he hugged his partner. After all the hugs, the group then was introduced.

Night fell before they knew it and everyone huddled before the fire pit and listened to Rick's story of when he woke from his coma. "Bless your heart, and Thank God you made it out," said Maranda as she and Jorgia shared their blanket. Jorgia's PDM beeped, breaking the silence, signaling her to check it, "Miss Jorgia, insulin is out, please refill." Jorgia sighed loudly, "Mom, this has been saying this every 3 hours, I just changed the insulin when we made that pit stop before Atlanta. "There must be something wrong, let me check it." Jorgia handed her mother her PDM and soon began to feel lightheaded. "I need to check your pod. I wish we had a fridge instead of that cooler, oh way does the world have to end now?" Maranda groaned, Jorgia and Maranda excused themselves and headed to the Suburban, where they kept a freezer cooler full of Jorgia's insulin. "You're pod is full, I don't know why Sheila's acting this way." Maranda said as she checked Jorgia's pod. "How do you feel, lightheaded? Disoriented?" Jorgia nodded her head, "I feel lightheaded." Maranda rummaged through the food box and found a can of 'beefaroni' and quietly cooked it in their camp pot. "Eat it here," Maranda said and she walked back to the campfire. "How is she?" Dale asked, "She's a little lightheaded, she's fixing it right now." Maranda replied, keeping it hush on the food. "Is it just you and your daughter?" Rick asked, Maranda shook her head, "No, I have my husband and three sons. They're hunting with Daryl." "Speaking of Daryl, how are we gonna tell him?" Dale said, "I'll do it, it was my fault, I cuffed him" Rick began, "No, it's mine, I had the key, I dropped it down the drain." T-Dog interjected. "Not trying to bring race into this, but it'd sound better coming from a white guy," Glenn said. "How about we lie?" Amy thought, "Or we can tell the truth, I mean, you know how Merle is, he would've gotten us killed." Andrea reasoned and turned to Rick and Lori. "What your husband did was right, he saved us, if he didn't Merle would've gotten us killed." The group all silenced then and felt uncomfortable of what would happen tomorrow when Daryl came back and didn't see his brother.

A few minutes later, Jorgia came back, feeling better, "How are you honey?" Dale asked the young girl, "I'm fine now, thank you for asking Dale." Jorgia said softly, "I'm going to head to bed." Maranda nodded and followed her. "Goodnight everyone," everyone smiled and bid the two goodnight. One by one the survivors all bid their goodnights and retreated into their tents, hopefully getting to see another day.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning, there was a commotion outside that had woken Jorgia. Getting up slowly, she shook her head and stepped outside. "Morning Officer Grimes," Jorgia said as she saw that Rick was also getting out of his tent, "Morning Miss Jorgia. Sleep well?" he said softly, "Yes, and you?" "The best I've slept in a while," Rick and Jorgia smiled and made their way to Glenn, who stood in front of the red Dodge and looked at the others take apart of the car. "It's okay Glenn, maybe you'll get to steal another one some other day," Jorgia reasoned, Glenn looked towards Jorgia and smiled, "Yeah, hopefully." Jorgia giggled and made her way towards Carol, "Good morning Miss Carol, is Sophia up?" Carol smiled and nodded, "She's with Carl and the others and Jacqui over by the cans." Carol pointed and Jorgia nodded, "Jorgia, your mother wants to make sure you eat before you go an play with them." Jorgia nodded again and headed into the Suburban to grab her usual breakfast. She was in the middle of finishing her cereal bar when she heard screams, without thinking Jorgia grabbed her bow and arrow and headed in the direction along with the other men. When they all arrived, Jorgia saw a walker on top a deer eating. Before Rick, Shane, Glenn, Jim, Dale, and Morales could beat it up, Jorgia sent an arrow right through its head. "Good shot Jorgia," said Rick as the limp walker fell on to the ground. "Thanks," Jorgia replied nodding her head, "That's the first walker we've seen in days." Dale said, "Ran out of food in the city," there was a shuffle in the bushes, everyone raised their weapons, ready to fight.

"Damn Daryl, you fuckin' redneck, you cheated!" Brent yelled as he and Marcus stepped through the bushes, the two of them stopped before they saw the weapons pointed at them, "Woah! Innocent!" Marcus joked; Jon, Stephen and Daryl all caught up with them and held their hands up, "What's wrong?" Jon asked, but his eyes glanced down to where the deer laid, a hole on its body. "Son of a bitch! That's my deer!" Daryl said as the 5 men walked towards the deer. "Look at it all gnawed off by this filthy seasonless proxy bastard!" Daryl yelled with each kick to the walker. "Calm down son, that's not helping." Daryl stalked to Dale angry, "Daryl, come on man." Jon interjected, Marcus, Brent and Stephen walked towards the deer, "Dad, do you think we can cut off this part?" Marcus asked, "I would not risk that," Shane said. "That's too bad, we've been tracking this deer for miles. Drag it back to camp, cook us some venison." Daryl said, grabbing back his arrows. "Who killed the walker?" Shane pointed his gun to Jorgia, "That's my princess!" Stephen cheered, Jorgia smiled and walked towards her dad and gave him a big hug. "Missed you Dad," "Missed you too Princess, where's your mother?" Jorgia pointed to the campsite. Stephen nodded and left but not with out giving Jorgia a kiss on the forehead. "Did you guys get any good kills?" Jorgia asked as she hugged all her brothers, "Just some squirrels, rabbits, and some raccoons. This deer was supposed to be ours, but looks like the son of a bitch got to it first. You okay Jor? Lookin' kind of pale." Jon noticed, worried for his sister. "I'm fine, it's just my pod is acting up." Jorgia replied, but when she took a step forward, she nearly fell on top of Daryl. "Whoa there" Brent went to grab her and felt her skin giving in a sweat. "Jorgia, were you bit? Scratched?" Jorgia's eyes widened, "What?! No! This is the first walker we've seen." Brent dropped it, but picked up his little sister and everyone walked back to camp. "Merle! Where are you?! Got some squirrel, let's stew em' up!" Daryl yelled carrying the kills that they had. "Wait up Daryl, gotta talk to ya'." Shane said, Daryl turned around, "There was a problem in Atlanta, bout Merle." Daryl went rigid, "He dead." Shane shrugged his shoulders, "He either is or he ain't." Daryl yelled, Rick walked forward and took the blame and explained. The next thing everyone knew, Daryl was in a headlock and Rick was calmly explaining things. "It's not all his fault, I had the key, and I dropped it." T-Dog interjected, "What, you couldn't just pick it up?" Daryl argued. "I dropped it in a drain." T-Dog shied his eyes away, avoiding the Dixon's eye contact. "If it's supposed to make me feel better it don't." Daryl said as he threw dirt back on the ground. "Well maybe this will, I had enough time to chain the door to the roof so the geeks wouldn't get it, with a padlock." T-Dog explained, "That's gotta count for something." Rick reasoned, "The hell with all ya'll. Just tell me where he is so I can go get em'." Rick was about to answer when Lori cut him off, "He'll show, ain't that right?" and walked into the RV. Everyone stared and then went back to what they were doing.

Stephen, Marcus, Brent, Jon, Jorgia, and Maranda were huddled having a heated discussion. "No, no way in hell will I let you three into Atlanta. Forget about it," Maranda argued. "Come on Mom, we've been with Daryl. It's the least we could do, what if one of us were in that position, we'd do whatever we can to get him back." Jon reasoned. "No, it's too dangerous. I want you boys to stay and that's final." With that Maranda left and helped Carol ironed the clothes. "Dad, talk to her." Brent begged, "Brent, I can't. Your mother is dead set on any of you going. Just listen to her please." Stephen begged back and went over to Dale. "Jorgia, you gotta talk to mom. At least let one of us go. We'll stop by a hospital on the way. See if we can find some more insulin or another pod. Please." Marcus begged, Jorgia huffed and agreed. "Fine, but you three OWE me big time." Jorgia walked over to Carol and Maranda, "Mom," Jorgia began, but Maranda shook her head. "No, no. I know what your going to do and you can tell them the answer is no." "But mom, it's Daryl's brother. They're his friends, let one of them go." Jorgia tried, Maranda put down the shirt she was folding and sighed, "Fine. But ONLY ONE can go, and that's Jon. He's oldest." She pointed to Jon and the other two groaned. "Yeah, by like 7 seconds." Brent complained, "It's either him, or none. Take your pick." The two nodded and Jon smiled in victory. Jon went to go get ready, as did everyone else. "

"So you and Daryl. That's your big plan?" Lori said skeptically, "No, he has me." Jon said as he walked out with his shotgun and crossbow. "Thanks man." Daryl said as the two of them knuckle punched, Rick nodded and then turned to Glenn, "Aw man! Come on." He whined, "You said it yourself. You know the way, you've been there before, in and out like you said." Rick stepped forward, "I know it's not fair for me to ask, I'd feel a lot better with you along, and she would too." He said as he pointed to Lori.  
"That's just great, we're riskin' 4 men," Shane grumbled, "5." T-Dog interceded and Daryl scoffed. "I'd rather take Brent and Marcus over there then you." T-Dog shook his head, "You see anybody else step up savin' yo' brother's crack ass?" "Why you?" Daryl said cleaning his arrows. "You wouldn't even understand, you don't speak my language." "That's 5." Dale said, "No, it's not just 5, you're puttin' every single one of us at risk. Just know that Rick." Rick looked down, "You saw that walker, and it was here, in camp. They're movin' in n' out of the cities, they come back, we need every able body, here to protect camp." Shane argued. "It seems to me like you need more guns." Rick said, "That's right, guns." Glenn whispered, "What, what guns?" "6 shotguns, 2 high powered rifles, over a dozen handguns, I cleaned the armory back at the station before I left. I dropped the bag in Atlanta. It's still there waiting for it to be picked up." Rick said, "Ammo?" Shane asked, "700 rounds." Shane sighed. "You went through hell just to find us, and you're just gonna leave again?" Lori said sadly, "Dad, I don't want you to go." Carl said next. "To hell with the guns, Shane is right. Merle Dixon? He's not worth one of your lives even with guns thrown in." Lori stood up in frustration, "Tell me. Make me understand." Rick walked to her, "You don't understand, I owe it to a man and his son. I need to warn them. I need to let them know." With it being settled, the group set out back into Atlanta prepared for their trip.

The McCarthy family walked towards the van, all saying goodbye to the group, making sure they are safe.

"Jon, you better swear to me. That you come back safe and unharmed. PROMISE me." Maranda croaked, tears threating to leave her eyes. "I promise mom, I'll try and bring back some supplies along the way also. Maybe even see the clinic around to grab some stuff for Jorgia." Jon said as he hugged his mother tightly. "I love you honey." Jon smiled down at his mother, "I love you too mom." The two let each other go, and Jon went to his little sister. "You be safe, bring Merle back, and each other." Jorgia said softly. Jon promised again and hugged his sister tightly. "Love you, I'll be back. I promise." With that, the 5 men all climbed into the truck and everyone watched as the van leave back into Atlanta.

The following day, everyone in camp began doing his or her daily chores. Half the group was down at the quarry; Jorgia, Carl, and Shane were holding buckets trying to catch frogs, "We're not catching anything," Carl grumbled, Jorgia laughed and looked towards Shane, "Oh come on you two, let's try it again, but the old fashion way." Shane smiled at the two of them and next thing Jorgia knew she was getting splashed with water, "Oh you boys are going to get!" Jorgia screamed when Shane and Carl. The three of them continued to splash each other having a good laugh.

"Can someone explain how the women get stuck with all the labor?" Jacqui asked as she and Andrea grabbed clothes and sat next to the other women. "The world ended didn't you get the memo?" Amy joked. Carol looked back to her husband, "Just the way it is." Maranda took noticed of the exchanged looks, and reminded herself to ask later. "I miss my may-tag" Carol said as she handed Maranda a shirt to wring out. "I miss my benz, my syn-nav" Andrea said, "I miss my coffee maker with filter and grinder honey," Jacqui reminisced. "I miss my computer, phone, texting." Amy groaned, "I miss my kitchen," Maranda said remembering what it felt like the last time she cooked in her kitchen. "Oh how I missed cooking and baking." Maranda smiled, "I miss my vibrator" Andrea said bluntly, all the girls smiled and grinned, "Me too" all the eyes widened and giggled at how they were.

"What's so funny?" Ed said as he walked towards the women, a cigarette in his mouth "Jus' swappin' war stories Ed." Ed lingered on and stopped right behind Carol, "Problem Ed?" Andrea asked frustrated. "Non that concern you, you folks better work, this ain't no comedy club." The women glared at him and ignored him as they continued working.

Lori and Stephen walked down to the quarry and Stephen took Jorgia and Carl to where the women sat. "Come on kids, let's go see if the women need help." Stephen said knowing Lori wanted to discuss something with Shane.

"Hello Ed." Stephen nodded curtly. Ed ignored him, and Stephen knew something was wrong with the way he kept looking at Carol. "Mom, do you need help?" Jorgia asked, "Yes, you and Carl can help wring the clothes dry so Jacqui can spread them out." Maranda explained. She handed the two pair of t-shirts and Jorgia and Carl both began wringing out the water. "Here Carol, let me do that. You go take a break" Stephen said as he tried to get the washboard from Carol, but Ed intervened, "No, let the women do the work, it's their job." Stephen glared at Ed; "It's also the man's job, to help his wife." Stephen argued, "It's fine Stephen really. I can do this," Carol told Stephen hoping he'd get the point, but Stephen didn't have it, and began arguing with Ed.

Lori came up to Jorgia and asked if she could take Carl, after nodding yes, Lori and Carl waved goodbye to Jorgia and made their way back.

"Come on woman," Ed charged at Carol, she subtly got up and was about to go when Andrea interjected. "She doesn't have to go anywhere with you." "It aint nun ya' business, come on now." Carol passed Andrea, "Don't think I won't knock ya' on ya' ass, so you better come on now, or you gon' regret it later." Ed grabbed Carol's arm and all the women tried to hold back Carol. Ed let go and Jorgia jumped in shielding Carol when she felt a hand to her cheek. After realizing that she had been slapped, rage was in both Stephen and Maranda's eyes. "Don't you dare slap my daughter!" Stephen threw his fist to Ed's face and started punching him. Shane saw the commotion and immediately helped Stephen. "You go to your daughter, I'll take care of this." Shane pointed and started beating Ed's face. Stephen listened and went to his daughter, hearing her cries. There was a large handprint on her face and was red from the slap. "Let's get you back to camp and put something on that." "Shane stop! STOP!" Andrea screamed, Shane stopped and looked towards them, "If I see you putting your hands on anyone in this camp, I'll kill ya Ed. I'll kill ya." With that Shane left angrily and the women and Stephen all stared in shock. Carol then ran out of Jacqui's arms and ran to Ed crying apologies to him.

Back at camp, after the whole fiasco, Jorgia decided to go hang with her brothers talking to Dale about letting them borrow some fishing poles. "How is she?" asked Carol, "She's fine, just a nasty mark." Maranda answered as she sat next to Carol. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for that to happen. Ever." Maranda shook her head, "Carol, it's fine. She told me she wanted to protect you. Plus, Jorgia was raised with 4 male figures in her life. Tough as nails." Carol still didn't feel better but dropped it, going back to her sewing.

"Dad, do you wanna come fish with us?" Jorgia asked as she held onto her pole. "No, you and your brothers go on. I'm gonna see if we can get us some meat." Stephen hugged his daughter and sons and they both dispersed. "You all better be back before sunset. I'm serious boys, no lollygagging." Brent, Marcus, and Jorgia both looked at each other and rolled their eyes playfully. The three of them all joked as they made to the quarry. "Your children are like angels" Jacqui said jokingly. "Oh please, those? My kids angels? That'd be a dream." Maranda joked back. Carol, Lori, and Jacqui all laughed at Maranda as she dramatically put her hand to her forehead.

2 hours later before the sun was setting, Jorgia, Brent, and Marcus walked back with more than 2-dozen fishes, each hanging neatly on the chains. "Oh my!" Morales said as he looked at the three walking back, "Because of you three, my kids will be eating well tonight!" he told them as he grabbed Jorgia's fish. "More like because of me. These two didn't catch but only 2 fish each." Jorgia joked. The faces on Marcus and Brent told the truth, "You are definitely an angel!" Jacqui said, and Jorgia got a confused look on her face. "Thanks?" Jorgia said and laughed. Just then Stephen came back with a large deer in his hold. "Boys, come help me." Stephen struggled; the two gave their fish to Shane and Morales and helped their father carry the large deer back to camp. "Where'd you get this bad boy?" Brent asked as they put the deer on the ground slowly and carefully. "Not far, couple miles." Stephen replied while wiping off his sweat. "It's a feast tonight ladies and gentlemen!" Morales cheered along with everyone else.

The camp was in high spirits when Dale came up with a worried look. "Don't want to worry anyone, but we have an issue." He said and pointed to where Jim was on top of a mountain digging.

Shane and the rest of the camp all followed to Jim, seeing him dig holes that were too familiar. "Hey Jim," Shane said, Jim ignored him and kept on digging. "Why don't ya hold up just a second please." He tried again, Jim listened this time and stopped. "What?" He asked, redness shown on his face and neck. "Dale said you've been out here for hours." Stephen said, "Why does it matter? I ain't hurtin' anyone." Jim shot back. "Jim, you need to stop and drink some water, this isn't good for you." Maranda said as she went forward with a canteen full of water. "You'll faint from dehydration." The doctor voice coming out, "Well, they're not gonna say it, so I will. You're scaring my son, Carol's daughter." Lori intervened as she stepped beside Dale and Maranda. Jim didn't bother and kept on digging until Shane and Stephen were able to hold him down and cuff him. They all walked back and tied him against a tree, giving him water and plenty of it.

The McCarthy men skinned and cooked the deer and fish and everyone all ate their meal happily. "We can't thank you McCarthy's enough for this wonderful meal." "Mom, when is Jon and the rest of them coming back? It's been like 2 days!" Jorgia asked worried when she realized they still weren't back. "They're fine honey, your brother is strong and so is everyone in that group. They'll be back." Maranda said. Amy got up from her spot, "Where are you going?" Andrea asked, "I have to pee, jeez, tryna be discreet around here." Amy whispered, and the group laughed. Amy opened the door to the RV, "We're out of toilet paper," but was cut off short when a walker came up to here and bit her arm. Amy let out a piercing scream, and everyone at camp jumped alarmed and scared. Walkers came out of no where and attacked, Stephen, Shane, Jim, Dale, Jorgia, Marcus, Brent, and Morales all grabbed their guns and started shooting everyone of them. Maranda quickly went to Amy, Maranda quickly trying to stop the blood flow, but was bitten by a walker in the process. Lori, Carl, Carol, and Jacqui all went behind Stephen, Jorgia, Dale, and Shane, making sure they were all close. Daryl, Jon, Rick, Glenn, and T-Dog then came and shot all of the Walkers.

"MOM!" Jorgia yelled as she held onto Maranda. "MOM! NO MOM!" Stephen, Marcus, Jon, and Brent all came beside Jorgia and held onto Maranda. "You all take care of each other. Make me proud." Maranda rasped, "Mom, don't. Don't you dare leave us." Jon cried, "PLEASE." Tears spilled as the McCarthy's sobbed for Maranda. The camp, what was left of it, looked on, broken at the family, and at Andrea. "Maranda, honey. Please, you got to hold on, please. Honey, keep holding on." Maranda smiled softly at her family in front of her, and held each of their hands. "I love you all, so very much. My sons, you keep your sister safe. Help your father, and help them." With that, Maranda closed her eyes, held on to each of her children and husband and sang one last time.

"My precious one, my tiny one, lay down your pretty head.

My dearest one, my sleepy one, its time to go to bed.

My precious one, my darling one don't let your lashes weep.

My cherished one my weary one it's time to go to sleep.

Just bow your head and give your cares to me.

Just close your eyes and fall into the sweetest dream, cause in my loving arms.

Your safe as you will ever be so hush my dear and sleep.

And in your dreams you'll ride on angel's wings.

Dance with the stars and touch the face of god

And if you should awake I'll send you back to sleep.

My precious one, my tiny one, Ill kiss your little cheek

And underneath the smiling moon Ill sing you back to sleep"

The camp all silenced themselves as they listened to the soft voice and their hearts broke, Maranda opened her eyes and remembered the faces of her precious children and husband, hoping to see them one day in the future. With one final breath, Maranda body went limp, and finally laid to rest.

Jon quickly stood up; rage filled every inch of his body. He started beating a walker and kept hitting it. "You mother fucker! WHY! GOD! WHY! WHAT HAVE WE DONE TO YOU! WHAT HAS MY MOTHER DONE TO YOU!" He screamed. Tears escaped Jon as he broke and sobbed, "Why!" he screamed again.

The camp again, hung their heads in respect and all left the McCarthy's to mourn.


	4. Chapter 4

Before anyone knew, morning had risen, and when the camp had retreated from his or her tents, the only one missing from the mourning family was Jorgia. Daryl, walked to his friends, and came to give his respects. Daryl knew what it meant to have a loving mother, but he also knew what it felt like to loose one too. After a few minutes, Daryl went in search for Jorgia.

Being one of the best trackers in the camp, he could easily follow her trail. After a few minutes, he found Jorgia sitting on the grass on the mountain, looking out into the distance. He could hear a faint hum coming from her, and as he walked closer. He could tell it was the song that Maranda had sung last night before she died.

"Hey." Jorgia said, not looking back. "How'd you know it was me and not walker?" Daryl asked as he sat down beside the girl. "Because if you were a walker, the steps would be quicker, there would've been groaning, and they would have eaten me already." Jorgia said softly. "I'm sorry for your loss," Daryl began, but Jorgia shook her head. "Don't be, at least she doesn't have to live in this kind of world ever again, have to worry about surviving." Jorgia's voice cracked at the end, Daryl looked to her hands and saw that it was gripping the grass until she finally ripped it from the ground and threw them. "Never in my life, would I have to see my mother die. Not now, not just yet." Daryl did something unexpected and wrapped his arms around Jorgia's shoulder, and she laid her head down onto his. Just being in someone's comfort, made her feel better. "We'll find your brother." Jorgia whispered, Daryl nodded and looked down to see dull chocolate brown eyes look at him.

In that moment, time seemed to freeze as Daryl and Jorgia stared at each other. Closer and closer their heads moved together, and the next thing both of them knew, lips were pressed against each other. Lips moving in synch, bodies hitting the ground, and nothing but the sound of the birds, the two broke apart for air. "Wow," Jorgia breathed, and Daryl nodded as he looked down to the beautiful girl underneath him, dark long curly hair, high cheekbones, dimples, and perfect skin. This girl was perfect, but not for someone like a trailer trash Daryl Dixon. Daryl shook his head, and got up from on top of Jorgia. "Come on, we better start heading back." He said as he helped Jorgia get up. The two of them walked back into camp holding onto each other's hands and a comfortable silence between them as they walked.

"There you two are, Daryl let's start moving and burning the bodies." Rick said as the two of them reached camp. Daryl nodded and dropped her hand and went to where T-Dog was. Jorgia looked around and counted how many survivors were left; they had lost nearly everyone except for the Morales' family, Jacqui, Jim, T-Dog, Dale, Andrea, the Grimes, Shane, Carol, Sophia, and her little family. Except her mother. Thinking back now, she slowly walked to wear her mother laid and sat down next to her. "Mom, I know I never got to tell you this, but you were the best. You were there for me when Dad, Jon, Brent, and Marcus went into the military. You were there to hold my hand waiting for them at the airport; you were there every night, sleeping with me, singing me lullabies, you were there for graduation. You were there from the start, and never did I got to tell you how much I appreciated you, how much I love you." Jorgia's tears kept flowing, and her words kept coming out as sobs. Everyone at camp stopped what they were doing and stared at the mother and daughter. Andrea had shot her sister nearly 3 hours before dawn, and her heart broke more when she saw two. "Mom, please. I wish I could take back last night, it should've been me to protect you, and it should've been me to be where you are. I can't do this with out you mom. I need you, Dad, Jon, Marcus and Brent need you." By now, Jorgia's sobs became angrier and louder, her body shaking from the harsh cries.

Marcus, Brent, and Jon looked to each other, and nodded. Jon grabbed an extra gun, and the three walked to their little sister, Jon handed her the gun, and all now they stood. Guns pointing at their mother's head. Stephen stood beside his daughter, his free hand on her shoulder. The family all nodded to each other, and the words of their prayer said in the maiden language of their mother.

"Je vous salue, Marie, pleine de grâce.

Le Seigneur est avec vous.

Vous êtes bénie entre toutes les femmes,

et Jésus, le fruit de vos entrailles, est béni.

Sainte Marie, Mère de Dieu,

Priez pour nous, pauvres pécheurs,

maintenant et à l'heure de notre mort.

Amen"

4 clicks of the guns were heard, and shots rang through the camp. One clean bullet wound sat on the forehead of Maranda St. Marie McCarthy. The camp survivors looked on at the family as they said the prayer. Each of them closed their eyes as they jumped at the gunshots, slowly each of them opened their eyes, watching the family one by one tuck their guns in the waistband of their pants, and making the sign of the cross and knelt down to kiss their mother's cheek.

"Is there any more wood, we want an extra pile for my wife." Stephen asked Rick and Shane, "We do, but would you not like her to be buried?" Dale asked, Stephen shook his head, "No, Maranda always wanted to be cremated. She thinks that being 6 feet under in a rectangular box would be a insult to her." Stephen said and smiled at the conversation they had not only months ago. Dale, Rick, and Shane nodded, "We can burn her where we are burying the others." With that, all the members of the camp moved up to the mountains where Jim had began digging only yesterday. One by one, they carried the wrapped bodies into the grave, Andrea having a hard time getting Amy in hers.  
"I got it," she cried as she struggled with the corpse. After a few more minutes, Amy's body was now in the ground. "The McCarthy Family would like to burn Maranda." Dale announced, the McCarthy's each held a match as they all dropped it and everyone watched as she burned. Ashes were collected, and kept safe until the family reached the safe house in Florida, and were able to spread them into the ocean.

The camp made it back to the site, getting ready to leave for the CDC. "Are you sure it's safe to go there Rick?" Stephen asked. "I'm sure, there must be someone in that building," Rick backed, Stephen and Shane shared wary looks, but nonetheless nodded.

"Jim's been bitten!" Jacqui yelled, all eyes were wide with fear, as Daryl and the McCarthy boys stepped forwards crossbows and guns ready. "Show us," Daryl demanded, "I'm fine, I'm fine." Jim repeated, Jon and Daryl nodded to each other and Brent and Marcus held Jim by his arms and Jon raised his shirt, indeed revealing his bite on his stomach. The five of them backed away and steered clear of Jim. Rick and Shane all walked towards Jim and talked to him as the McCarthy boys and Daryl went over to Stephen. "We need to kill him. Put him out of his misery." Daryl announced. "I agree with Daryl," Brent said, and the rest nodded. "I agree boys, but let's see what he wants to do." Stephen said as he pointed to Jim.

Rick, Shane, Dale, Daryl and the McCarthy men all huddled together to discuss the matter of the situation. "I say we put a bullet to his forehead, I'm pretty sure navy boys over ere' can put a clean one, hell even I can." Daryl said carelessly. "Is that what any of you would want if you were him?" Shane asked, "Hell yeah, and we'd thank you while ya'll did it. I'd want to be put out of that misery." Marcus explained. Jorgia shook her head, "No, we can't. Rick's right, what if we did go to the CDC, what if there is some cure?" The group looked to her, Jorgia looked around. "What? I mean, yeah I'd want you all to put me out of my misery, but it's not me, or any of you." Jorgia explained, "She's right, it's not any of our places to choose this. It's Jims." Dale said, and it was settled that they would take Jim to the CDC.

"Dad, we're going too?" Jorgia asked, "Yes, we are." Stephen said as he packed their belonging's in the car. Marcus, Brent, and Jon looked up shocked. "And who agreed? Dad, I thought we agreed that we'd go to the safe house?" Jon said, "We can't just leave them, they need our help." Stephen explained, "Yeah, and looked how that turned out, Mom's dead because we stayed here." Jon said angrily. "Mom died because she was saving another, what would your mother think if she heard you right now?" Each of them looked down, "She'd be so pissed that we're being selfish." Marcus said, "That's right, she would want us to help them. It's the least we could do. It's what humans do." All of the children nodded to Stephen and continued packing.

Jorgia walked towards Daryl, "Hey," Jorgia whispered, Daryl looked towards her, "Ey', so ya' gon' go with us?" Jorgia nodded and kept playing with a strand of her curls. "Can we talk about the kiss?" Jorgia asked quietly, feeling her self blush at the question. Daryl's eyes widened, but quickly let out a cough, "What bout it?" "I just want to know what we are?" She asked, "We could be whatever you want" Daryl caught himself saying, shock ran through his veins. Jorgia smiled to herself and kissed Daryl on his cheek and went to the Suburban.

Jon looked at his sister surprised to see her kiss Daryl on the cheek. Sure he wasn't that bad of a guy, but he couldn't help but be overprotected over his baby sister.

"Are we all packed? Remember we're channel 40 on the walkies." Rick announced, "We're not going." Everyone looked towards the Morales Family. "Are you sure? No one can watch your back." Shane asked, "We're sure, we have family in Birmingham, we'd like to be with them." Morales' wife Miranda said. Shane and Rick nodded and stepped forwards with a shotgun, half box of ammo, and an extra walkie. "Channel 40 if you change your mind." Morales nodded and began saying goodbye to the other camp. Liza and Louis hugged Carl, Sophia, Carol, Lori and Jorgia. While his wife Miranda said goodbye to the others. After that, everyone boarded their vehicles and left their separate ways.

"I hope they will be safe." Jorgia told Jon. "Let's hope so."

As the group drove through, Jorgia began singing a song that Jon instantly knew.

"No one move, No one speak, Please don't say that it's just me, it's not just me. And even though I wont forget, Just don't want this to end just yet, not just yet.

And if I had one chance to freeze time. And stand still and soak in everything,

I'd choose right now.

And if I had one night where sunshine could break through and show you everything,

I'd choose right now,

If this is it, all we have,

I know I've done all I can,

If this is it.

And we can't stop, and start again

We can't fast forward to the end

This is it.

And if I had one chance to freeze time

And stand still and soak in everything,

I'd choose right now.

And if I had one night where sunshine could break through and show you everything,

I'd choose right now,

Before the fears that I once had start coming back... again.

Oh please come back again... again,

Oh please come back again,

Oh please come back again.

And I'm so scared I might forget,

Just don't want this to end just yet,

Not just yet.

But if I had one chance to freeze time

And stand still and soak in everything,

I'd choose right now.

And if I had one night with sunshine to break through and show you everything,

I'd choose right now,

Before the fears that I once had start coming back... again."

By the end of the song, the cars soon started and the RV came to a complete stop. "I wonder what's going on?" Jon said as he and Jorgia stepped out of the Suburban. Marcus and Brent walked beside them as they saw everyone around the front of the RV. "What's going on?" Stephen asked, "The radiator is shut, no much we can do." Dale explained. "Well is there anything we can do? Like maybe you can jury rigs it?" Dale shook his head, "That's all it's been, duck tape and all. I've run out of duct tape." Stephen and the boys tried to take a look while Jacqui came out panting, "Guys, it's Jim. It's really bad. I don't think he can handle it." Everyone looked towards the RV and Rick sighed and stepped inside the RV.

After a few minutes, Rick came out from the RV, face sullen.

"What? What did he say?" Dale asked, Rick looked up and shook his head, "He want's us to leave him here. He won't make it," gasps released themselves and everyone looked shocked. "Is he lucid?" Carol asked, Rick nodded. "When I said I agreed with Daryl, you misinterpreted. I was about to say that we should've let Jim decide." Dale explained, Shane shook his head, "No, we can't do that, I can't. I can't handle that on my conscious." Lori stepped up, "It's not your call, neither of yours. If this is what he wants, then give it to him."

Rick, Shane, and T-Dog carried Jim out of the RV and set him against a tree. One by one, the group had said their tearful goodbyes, Jorgia came up to Jim, smiling to him. "I've never really knew you long enough, but I hope your pain and suffering will be over. Say hi to my mom for me up there. Look after her, your family, and us." Jorgia said, putting a hand on his shoulder. Jim nodded and a couple tears left his eyes, "You take care also, don't give up. Make sure they fight till the end, all of you. Don't stop until you're ready." Jorgia nodded and one by one they all piled into the cars again making sure

CDC:

When the group had finally arrived to the CDC building, they were welcomed with nothing but silence and the rotting dead. "It looks dead here dad." Jorgia whispered as they followed Rick to the entrance. The building had shutters down and it looked deserted. "Come on man, no one is here." Shane said forcefully. "WALKERS!" Daryl exclaimed as he and the McCarthy's raised their crossbows at the walkers. Shane and Rick kept yelling at each other, and soon everyone was tensed. "FORT BENNING! Like I said from the start." Shane yelled as they tried to go back to the vehicles. But a sudden noise and light brought them to a stop. "COME ON!" Rick said as he rushed back to the entrance. Once they all entered, they saw a shadow in front of them. A click of a gun and soon all the men who held guns clicked theirs. "Anyone infected?" the man yelled.

The man then stepped out and revealed a white man, dressed in t-shirt and sweats holding a military rifle. Rick shook his head, "We did, but he didn't make it." Jenner looked towards the group, "Why are you here and what do you want?" "A chance." Rick said. The man stepped forward closer to the group. "That's askin' an awful lot these days." Rick craned his head, " I know." The man then stared at the group in front of him.

"You each will submit to a blood sample, that is the price of admission." He said, Rick nodded his head, "We can do that." Jorgia then spoke up, "I can't. I'm diabetic" Jenner looked doubtful, "Please, I can assure you that my daughter isn't infected." Stephen pleaded. "Fine, but I still need a blood sample. I won't take much from you." Jenner said, "Deal." Jorgia said. Jenner then nodded to Rick. "If you have things you want then get them now, once these doors close. They stay closed." Jenner said and Jon, Brent, Marcus, Daryl, Rick and Shane all went to the vehicles and went to retrieve everyone's bag and ran back inside. The group had all packed into a large elevator, "Doctors always packin' heat like that?" Daryl asked; Jenner looked back, "There were plenty layin' around. Had to familiarize myself with it." He then again looked at group, "But you all look harmless enough," then he bent down to Carl's height. "Cept' you. I'm gonna have to keep my eye on you." Carl smiled and looked to his dad.

"Are we underground?" Asked Carol as the group exited the elevator and into a hallway. "Are you claustrophobic?" Jenner asked looking back, "A little" Carol replied, "Don't think about it." The group followed Jenner into a big room complete with computers. "Vi, bring up the lights in the big room." The lights then turned on. "Welcome to Zone 5." Rick looked around confused, "Where is everybody? The doctors, the staff," "I'm it." Jenner said, "It's just me here." "What about the person you were just talkin' with Vi." Lori asked, "Vi, say hello to our guests." Jenner yelled. "Hello Guests, Welcome." Said a robotic female voice. Disbelief was shown on everyone's faces. "I'm sorry," then walked off.

In a small room, everyone sat down in chairs and took turns getting their blood taken. Once it was Jorgia's turn, she was optimistic. "I won't take much like the others, just at least half enough to sample." Jenner explained. Jorgia nodded and took a deep breath. "For 16 years I've had diabetes, and you'd think I'd be used to needles." Jorgia joked, and felt a fog in her brain. Jenner smiled and pricked her arm and began filling the sample tube with her blood. "And there we go," Jenner said as he then unstick her and closed the tube. Jorgia smiled back and began to stand before she nearly tumbled over. Stephen rushed to his daughter before she fell over. "We all haven't eaten in days," Jacqui explained as she dabbed Jorgia's forehead with a handkerchief.

Laughter filled the dining area as wine was passed around the table.

Dale started filling Carl's when Lori shook her head and told Carl no. "In Italy, children could have some, and in France." Dale said, everyone laughed, "Well when Carl is in Italy or France he can have some then." Rick laughed and looked to Lori, "Come on, it's not gonna hurt. Come on!" Everyone watched Carl as he took a sip of the wince. "EWW!" Carl exclaimed as he shook his head. "That's my boy, that's my boy." Lori said as she dumped Carl's wine in her glass. "Stick to sodapop kid." Shane said jokingly, "Not you Glenn, you too Jorgia. I wanna see how red ya'lls face can get." Daryl said as he began pouring a bottle of 'Southern Comfort' in their glasses. Glenn and Jorgia looked towards each other and shrugged their shoulders. The two grabbed their cups and tipped their heads back, the alcohol burning their throats. Glenn made a face but Jorgia just smiled. "Someone's been partying it up in Columbia." Marcus joked as he clinked glasses with Daryl. Stephen shot his daughter a playful glare and smiled. "That better not be the only thing she's been doing." The group busted into laughter again as Stephen began to show the overprotective father side. Rick stood up with his glass and cleared his throat. "It seems that we have not properly thanked our host," he said raising his glass, "Booyah!" Daryl yelled and the spirits were high tonight. "So when you going to tell what the hell happened here Doc," Shane said seriously, breaking the mood. "The other doctors, which supposed to be figuring what happened." "Shane, we're celebrating," Rick said as he sat back down, "That is why we're here right? Getting answers? This was your move. Instead we found him, just one man. WHY." Then everyone looked to Jenner, "When things got bad, they left to be with their families. When things got worse, when the military got overrun, they bolted." "Every last one?" "No, many couldn't face out the door, so they opted out. Rash of suicides." "You didn't leave, why?" Andrea asked, "I just kept working, hope to do some good." He said as he looked at Andrea. Glenn got up from his spot by Jorgia, "Dude you are such a buzz kill." Jorgia nodded and glared at Shane.

"Most of the facilities are powered down, so you have to make do here. Couches are comfortable, and there's a rec room that you kids might enjoy, just don't turn on the TV." Jenner said and Carl and Sophia nodded. "Also, if you shower, easy on the hot water." And walked away.

"Did he just say hot water?" Brent said, "That's what the man said," T-Dog said happily and everyone rushed into their rooms and ran to the showers.

Jorgia sat in one of the empty rooms with her brothers drinking with Daryl, Glenn and T-Dog. "Man, if mom was here she'd be in pure heaven," Marcus said as he sipped on his bottle. "Yeah, but she's probably having a blast up there with the big man." Brent said as he raised his bottle in the air. "So little McCarthy, what was the college life like?" T-Dog asked, Jorgia shrugged. "Eh, I didn't really have a social life outside of college. When you're taking classes above the freshman level, you kinda forget what sleep and food is. I'm pretty sure my best friends were packs of 'RedBull' and the library." Jorgia explained. "What no partyin'?" Daryl asked, "I did a little, when I would have a couple free days, I'd use those to my advantage." Jorgia smirked thinking back to those frat parties. "What bout you guys?" T-Dog nodded to the McCarthy boys. "We all enlisted into the military right outta high school." Jon said for all three of them, "Man, cheers to ya'll for serving Merica." T-Dog said, "Too bad the world and Merica's gone to shit." Brent said, "Amen to the that brotha!" The group all raised their glasses and drank to the cheers.

After nearly 3 hours of drinking and 6 bottles of whiskey and wine done. The McCarthy boys, T-Dog and Glenn all retreated back to their rooms, while Daryl and Jorgia stayed.

"Goodnight boys, sleep well." Jorgia said as she kissed her brothers forehead as they each hugged her.

Once it was just Daryl and Jorgia sitting next to each other, shoulders touching, and silence surrounding them.

"How long do you think we'll be here?" Jorgia asked, "Don' know." Daryl replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "You know, I've heard everyone else's stories, but not yours." Jorgia said as she turned her head to look at Daryl. "Not much to tell, I was huntin' for couple days, came back, shit hit the fan. Packed up, grabbed Merle and left. Found old man and the two blondes and then they all kept comin'." "What bout you?" Jorgia took a deep breath, "They had a broadcasting about a 'Wildfire' break in Wyoming, that people in the Atlantic line didn't need to worry. Everyone on campus just didn't pay any mind to it. We all went to class like a normal day that was until someone in my Anatomy class had gotten sick and threw up. She kept complaining that her insides hurt and had like a cold sweat, she passed out cold. We called an amblance, and class was dismissed. Right when we were about to leave, our professor screamed and my friends and I all looked back to see her biting off his arm," Jorgia's body shook as she retold the story. "We didn't think any of it, so we helped our professor. My friends Tony and Alex grabbed hold of the girl and me and my friend Caroline tried to stop the bleeding. We heard lots of shooting down in the hallways and we thought we were under attack. Alex and Tony told us to take Mr. Torino and into his office. We didn't listen at first, but when we went to help Mr. Torino up, he didn't move, didn't have a pulse. He bled to death. So we left him. Alex and Tony were still holding onto the girl trying to stop her from biting them. We were in the office when it happened. The military came in and just started shooting, they shot Alex, Tony, the girl, and Mr. Torino, and left. They didn't stop to look who was infected or not." By then Jorgia had tears in her eyes and Daryl wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "It was horryifying. To see people who you grew up with, die in front of you. They could've made it, they could've still been here. After Caroline and I checked if it was clear, we grabbed our backpacks, and ran out into the courtyard. I was thankful to see my parents already in the car here. I couldn't say the same for Caroline, she lagged behind me and someone came up to her and bit into her neck. She screamed so loudly and I saw my dad get out of the car to drag me into the car. I kept crying and begging dad to help her. 5 of them were eating her body, not caring in the world. The soldiers shot all of them dead. The school was like a living nightmare, waiting to be woken up." Daryl kept rubbing circles on Jorgia's back comforting her. "We quickly left school and went home. All of my brothers were there packing everything, food, clothes, medicine, anything to survive pretty much in large duffel-like backpacks. They even cleared out the hunting gear and armory. We all left once our vehicles were loaded and we then raided mom's private clinic and a gas station along the way. Even looted a grocery store. Stuffed it in the boxes and we left to go meet our grandparents in Florida."

Jorgia had leaned into Daryl's body, enjoying the warmth it gave. Daryl smiled softly to himself when he could hear the even breathing coming from the small body. He sighed as he stared at her face. Beautiful eyes, heart-shaped face, dimples, and perfect white teeth. Daryl couldn't fathom the idea of a girl like this could be attracted to him. He always thought that he'd be attracted to Shane or Glenn, but never him. He shook his head of the negative thoughts and moved his arms to where he was now carrying her bridal style. He turned the lights off with his foot and made his way back to her room with slow steps. Careful not to wake her up, he set her down on one the beds on the floor, when he unwrapped his arms, Jorgia mumbled something and gripped onto Daryl's shirt. "Stay." He heard her whisper. Daryl debated for a moment, and gave in. He sighed and laid down beside her. Jorgia snuggled into Daryl's arms and soon they both fell asleep, smiling to themselves at how comfortable they felt.


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning, the survivors all sat at the table waiting for T-Dog to finish cooking their breakfast. Jorgia and Daryl came tumbling in, a headache forming in each of them. "Morning Sunshine!" Marcus yelled in Jorgia's ear earning him a hard hit to the shoulder. The group laughed at the siblings and resumed drinking their orange juice.

"And this is why I never partied too much in college." Groaned Jorgia as she sat next to her father and Jon. "Shouldn't be partying in the first place sweetheart." Stephen chuckled as he slid some Advil and a glass of orange juice over to his daughter.

"It's not the best eggs in the world, but it'll help the hangover." T-Dog teased to Glenn and Jorgia who still had their heads down on the table groaning over the pounding headache. "Never again," Glenn said while rubbing his eyes. T-Dog laughed loudly and earned a swift punch in the arm by Glenn.

Everyone was enjoying their breakfast when they saw Dr. Jenner walk in, "Doc, I don't mean to ask question so early," Dale started, "But you will anyway?" Jenner replied turning around with his fresh brewed coffee. "We didn't come here for the eggs," interjected Andrea. "Follow me." Jenner said and the group all looked to each other and proceeded to follow Jenner back into the main room. Jorgia begrudgingly followed but bringing along her plate of eggs, bacon, and ham.

"Vi, bring up TS-19." Jenner said, and soon the main monitor pulled up someone's brain. Jenner spoke up then. "Give me playback of TS-19," the man ordered to Vi, typing swiftly into one computer's keyboard.

Everyone gathered around and watched the large screen ahead as images of a person's brain appeared on it. "Few people ever got to see this," Jenner continued, his hands on his hips as he addressed the group.

"Is that a brain?" asked Carl curiously. Jenner smirked. "An extraordinary one, not that it matters in the end," he added more solemnly. "Enhanced view, please, Vi."

"Enhanced internal view," confirmed the AI as it delved into the screen's image until everyone was looking at a profile view of someone's brain.

With piqued interest, Jorgia put down her now empty plate and took a few steps closer to the big display, her attention focused on the brain. "It's beautiful," Jorgia commented aloud. It reminded her of the tests she did back in Columbia's lab. "Yes, it is," agreed Jenner.

The image on screen traveled deep into the brain, revealing crisscrossed lines and flashing lights. Shane cocked his head. "What are those?" ""They're synapses, I learned this at university" Jorgia informed them. "It's a person's life," replied Jenner. "Memories, experiences. It's everything. Somewhere in all that organic wiring and ripples of light, is you." Having zero clues about what he was talking about, Daryl asked sarcastically, "You don't make sense? Ever?"

"Electric impulses in the brain that carry all the messages. They determine everything the body does from the moment of birth all the way until death." Jorgia explained taking over Jenner. Jorgia apologized, but Jenner shook his head, surprised that anyone knew what the little lights in the stems were. Rick frowned. "Death? Is that what this is? A vigil?" "Yes," the other man replied. "Or more like the playback of the vigil." "This person died?" Jorgia wondered, leaning against one of the computers. "Who?" finished Andrea. Something that had long ago fallen to pieces within Jenner shook him now. A sad expression flitted across his face. "Test subject nineteen. Someone who was bitten and infected and someone who volunteered for the process." Jorgia wondered who would have volunteered for such a study, but then again, once the person was bit, he or she must have known that nothing would cure them. If it would save lives, then I'd do it, too, Jorgia mused.

Jenner sighed. "Vi, show playback of first event."

"Playback of first event," confirmed the female computer as she revealed a visual of the same brain, but with black tendrils creeping up the brain stem. Glenn cringed. "What is that?" "It invades the brain like meningitis," Jenner said, pointing up towards the screen. "The adrenal glands hemorrhage, the brain goes into shut down, followed by the organs." The test subject was beginning to convulse on the screen. It continued to for several seconds before the flashing lights in the brain ceased. Everything went dark and the thrashing stopped. Jenner lowered his head before he finished. "Then death. Everything you were or ever will be…gone." Without being able to help it, several tears fell from Jorgia's brown eyes. Jon, Marcus, Brent, and Stephen all had a sullen look on their faces. Daryl could see all of them struggling.

"Is that what happened to Jim, Maranda, and Amy?" Sophia asked her mother. Carol blinked at her daughter's innocent question. She nodded, reaching down to grab Sophia's hand. With a sniffle, Andrea looked away from the front screen and sighed. Jorgia gripped the chair tightly. "They lost someone, a mother and a sister," informed Lori when Jenner noticed the saddened expression of the small family and the blonde.

Jenner nodded. "I lost somebody, too. I understand how devastating it is." "Vi," Jenner said sternly, "Scan ahead to second event."

"Scanning to second event," she confirmed in monotone. The monitor fast-forwarded, scrolling blips of information and numbers along one side of the screen. And then an interesting thing happened.

Jorgia watched as a flicker of red light emerged at the base of the brain. "It restarts the brain?" she asked in a surprised voice. "No, just the brain stem," Jenner corrected. "It gets them up and moving." "But they're not alive." Rick chimed out. Jenner eyed him. "You tell me."

"They can't be," asserted Jorgia. "It depends what you think 'alive' actually means. The neocortex, the part of the brain that makes you who you are, is dead. But the basic functions come back." "Like walkin' and eatin'," Daryl guessed.

Jenner nodded. He turned back to the screen and flinched slightly when something tore through the image of the brain, like a knife through butter. "What the hell was that?" Marcus asked, concerned.

Blinking, Andrea understood completely what she had just seen. "He just shot his patient through the head." She averted her eyes. "Didn't you?" A moment later, the scientist shut off the screen and turned his attention to everybody else in the room. There was a sad look on his face, one filled with unknowing and as many questions as everyone else had on their minds then. "You have no idea what it is." Lori took a step forward, saying what they were all thinking.

Jenner shook his head. "Could be microbial, parasitic, fungal."

"Or the wrath of god," asserted Jacqui from the other side of the room.

"Could be." Jon walked forward to Jenner, "Somebody has to know what this thing is." He met eyes with each person there. "Right? What about the other CDCs? Are there any left?" "There might be other facilities," Jenner agreed hesitantly. "People like me." "But how could you not know?" Rick approached, pointing a finger at Jenner impatiently. He wanted answers just as much as the rest of the group. Jenner stepped back. "I'm cut off. Communications stopped about a month ago."

There was a silence in the room that could have suffocated an elephant.

"I've been alone for that long." Everyone looked at each other disbelief shown on their faces.

"So it's not just here?" asked Andrea, a hateful look in her eyes. "You mean there's nothing anywhere? That's what you're really saying, right?" There was another deadly silence, but it was an answer no less.

Daryl shook his and stepped back, walking passed her briskly in an effort to stretch his legs and walk off some of the emotions he was feeling. "Imma get shit-face drunk…again."

"Not me." Glenn put on a disgusted face to go along with his extensive hangover expression. He could never drink again and it would be too soon. Daryl waved him off. "Pussy."

In an attempt to change the subject, Dale walked passed everyone and pointed up at a large, wall-mounted display that had numbers across it. "I know this is taxing and I hate to have to ask you one more question, Jenner, but I can't help noticing that that clock has been counting down this whole time." Everyone turned their attention to the red-numbered countdown, curiosity and nervousness tainting the gleam in their eyes.

"What happens at zero?" Dale asked. Jenner hesitated. "The generators…they run out." "Then what?" Rick asked. When he received no response, he asked Vi. "Vi, what happens when the generators run out?" Immediately, the computer replied, "Facility-wide decontamination will occur." Eyes and gasps filled the silence and tears flowed down Jorgia's cheeks knowing what that meant.

Rick, Jon, Marcus, Brent, Shane, T-Dog, Glenn, and Stephen all went downstairs to check the generators. Jorgia sat still in the large room, staring at the blank computer in front of her. "How is this happening?" Jorgia whispered to herself. "You remind me of my wife." A voice said, startling Jorgia. She turned to see a sad Jenner walking with a picture frame. "TS-19, was your wife, wasn't it?" Jenner nodded, "She told me to keep going, I listened." Jorgia nodded, "What were you doing before this started?" Jorgia sighed, "I was studying pre-med at Columbia University. My mother was a surgeon and she inspired me to be one." Jenner nodded sadly, "Was she bit?" Jorgia nodded, "Yes, she was trying to save Andrea's sister, but it was too late." Jorgia was interrupted when everyone all came into the main room again, "Jenner, the generators have been running on empty." Rick said angrily. "There's no air, lights, what's going on?" Stephen demanded. Jenner looked from Jorgia up to the group before him. "It was the French." He stated, "From what I heard, they were the lasts one, almost finding a cure." "Well what happened to them?" Brent asked, "They worked till the generators shut down," Jenner said looking down. "The building will deconstruct in 30 minutes," Rick's eyes widened, "Everyone go pack your things! We're getting out of here." Everyone followed his orders, but the doors shut down, locking them inside. "He locked us in," Glenn shouted scared. "Open the door Jenner." Stephen demanded, Jon, Brent, Daryl and Marcus all got up trying doing whatever they could to break through the doors. "The doors were designed to defuse a rocket launcher." "We can't die like this," Lori screamed holding onto a crying Carl. "Haven't you thought about it? Holding your loved one until a millisecond and it'll be over." "My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this!" Cried Carol, "It'll be quick, you wouldn't feel anything." Daryl had heard enough and tried to swing his axe at the doctor but was stopped by Rick and Shane holding him back. "Let us have a chance out there, let us continue surviving and looking." Lori begged, the doctor thought about it, and walked over to a pad and swiped his card. "The doors outside won't open, you'd have to figure out how to get out then." Jenner said, Rick nodded and rushed everyone out. Rick was stopped by Jenner, whispering something in his ear, "Everyone is infected, except for The McCarthy family, their blood is immune to the infection. Keep this to yourself until you're ready." Rick stood dazed by his words and were dragged out by Shane.

Andrea, Jacqui, and a dazed Jorgia stayed in place, "I can't do this, I can't end up like Jim." Jacqui told a desperate T-Dog. Jon looked back to see Jorgia still sitting in the chair, staring blankly at the computer. "JORGIA! Come on!" He yelled desperately. Jorgia made no movement, everyone all stopped to stare, Jon and Stephen all ran towards Jorgia, "Honey, Princess let's go." Jorgia looked up to her oldest brother and father and shook her head. "No, I want to be with mom." Jorgia whispered, Stephen told Rick to go ahead, as Dale tried to reason with Andrea. "Honey, your mother wouldn't want you to die like this. She wants us to keep fighting!" cried a distressed Stephen. "Jorgia, fucking get up! We don't have much time," Jorgia looked to the clock, 10 minutes remained, "You better go," she said mono-toned. Jon growled and picked up his sister by the waist and slung her over his shoulder. Stephen, Dale, Andrea, and Jon all ran looking back towards Jacqui and Jenner and gave their final goodbyes.

As the group made it out, they saw the remaining survivors all climbing out of the window. "Get DOWN!" yelled Brent as he saw his brother, dad, and sister, along with Dale and Andrea got out of the building.

"They made it," Jacqui praised, she looked towards Jenner and the two held hands as the explosion came. The building erupted into harsh flames, destroying it completely.

When everyone looked up, the remaining group dashed back into their vehicles and quickly left the area. Heading back onto the road once again.  
Jorgia sat still in the car, not moving or saying anything. Jon sighed beside her and slowly grabbed his sister's hand. "Why." Jorgia said slowly. Tears had fallen again, staining her cheeks. "Why didn't you let me die?" Jon set his jaw tight, his temper ticking. "Why?! Because it's not like us to give up so easily. Mom would've been so mad at you for giving up so easily! We have to keep on fighting." Jon said forcefully. "Well Mom's dead." Jorgia rebutted. "She's gone, so it doesn't matter if she'll be pissed at me. That was my decision, you and dad need to stop babying me! I'm fucking 20 years old for fucks sake!" Jorgia exploded, slamming her hands on the dashboard. Thankfully, Jon saw that the RV had stopped and so did the rest of the cars. "Get the fuck out." Jon said through clenched teeth. Jorgia listened and shut the door forcibly. Ignoring the group in front of the RV, the two siblings engaged into a full on argument. "You said to stop babying you! Well maybe if you didn't act like it, everyone would all treat you like an adult. So what if you're 20 years old! I don't give a damn, but I do give when my little sister decides to just give up on life. You're fucking selfish for doing that to us. To Dad, Marcus, Brent and ME!" Jon screamed at Jorgia, Jorgia didn't flinch but the group did.

"Shouldn't you stop it?" Lori asked Stephen. Stephen shook his head, "They need to handle that themselves. They need to learn." With that everyone stared at the two fighting.

"For once in your life, stop acting like it's all about you! Jorgia this, Jorgia that. All Mom and Dad cared about was you!" Jon yelled, "I wish we didn't have a sister! Like would've been better. Maybe I should've left you in that building." Gasps escaped everyone's mouths at the harsh words from the older sibling. Marcus and Brent shook their heads, Jorgia's eyes widened and felt rage. She lifted her hand and slapped Jon across the face. "Fuck you," with that she stalked off and everyone quickly dispersed looting into cars. Jon suddenly felt guilt, Marcus and Brent went up to their brother, disappointment shown on their faces, "Low blow dude." Marcus said and began looting cars around them. Brent didn't bother to say anything to his twin and went to Glenn.

"We can syphon the Audi, it's useless now to me." Stephen told Dale, "That would be helpful." Stephen grabbed a hose and syphoned the Audi and into a gas gallon. After that, he then began grabbing his supplies and putting it into the Suburban and Tahoe. Stephen glanced to his son and sighed, "You need to apologize to your sister. You two care for each other and now is not the time to be fighting with each other." Jon nodded and set out to find his sister. Dale looked up ahead with his binoculars and spotted walkers behind a flipped 16-wheeler. Rick saw what Dale had seen and quickly told everyone to get under the cars. Marcus, Brent and Stephen all ran and helped telling everyone and soon they all ducked under the cars. Jorgia was suddenly grabbed and a hand covered her mouth. She looked beside her to see her father.

Everyone under the cars had waited quietly as they herd had passed by. Jorgia hid her face in her father's shirt as he held onto tightly his little girl. A couple of more minutes and the last of the herd, everyone quietly got out of the cars, but a scream had pierced through the air, as everyone saw two walkers go after a small Sophia. Rick and Jon both ran after the girl and hoping to rescue the girl in time.

"Don't shoot, It'd attract the herd back to the highway." Rick quickly told Jon as they ran where the walkers had headed, "There she is," Jon pointed and the two quickly ran after her. Jon quickly killed the first walker from grabbing onto Sophia's shirt, the second walker quickly forgotten the girl and instead tackled Jon onto the ground. He struggled until he no longer felt the weight of the walker, and saw Rick smashing the walker's head with a rock. Jon nodded his thanks to Rick and they set out to find Sophia again. "Sophia!" the two whispered. "Where did she go?" Jon asked, Rick and Jon both looked again for any sign of the girl, and made it back to the highway hoping she would've found her way back.

"Did you find her?" Carol sobbed, Rick and Jon shook their heads, "We thought she would've found her way back." Jon said, "We'll get a search group in order and we'd be able to cover more ground then." Rick said, everyone nodded and they all grabbed their weapons and set out in journey to find the girl.

Dale, T-Dog, and Marcus decided to stay back and help with the RV and fixing T-Dog's cut.

Jorgia had walked next to Daryl in a steady pace, tracking the girl's footsteps. "Her tracks stop right here." Daryl announced, as he looked at the ground. "How could that be?" Rick asked, the group kept walking and found a tent, "Carol, she's the first voice that she should hear. Call out to her quietly," Rick instructed, Carol nodded and walked with Rick closer to the tent. "Sophia." Carol said softly, "Sophia, mommy's here." No response and Daryl quietly unzipped the tent and a foul smell filled the air, Daryl, Rick, and Shane walked out the tent and shook their heads. They then heard a bell in the distance and quickly ran to the source of the sound.

"SOPHIA!" Rick yelled, they were led to a church, but Shane decided against it. "1, 2, 3" and the doors opened to reveal nearly skeletal walkers. 3 of them all turned to look at their prey and slowly got up, Rick, Shane and Daryl quickly killed them and signed in frustration for Sophia. Glenn and Jorgia went to the side of the church and quickly disabled the bell.

"I need a moment," Carol said and went back into the church and kneeled on the pew.

Jorgia sat on the steps with Glenn, when Jon came up to them. "Can we talk?" Glenn took this sign to leave and left the siblings alone. Jorgia didn't reply and kept looking forward. "I know what I said was unforgivable but you pissed me off, I can't control my mouth. I'm sorry, and what I said were lies. I love you Jorgia, and I would never not wish for a sister." Jon apologized and Jorgia looked up, "I forgive you, but just give me time. You really hurt me, I would've rather die than hear you say those words." Jon and Jorgia both hugged and broke apart when Rick came up to them. "Jon, will you go with me and Shane and continue search while the others head back?" Jon nodded, "I want to go too." Jorgia spoke up, Rick looked to Jon and shrugged her shoulders, "It wouldn't hurt." Rick nodded and the two followed him, "Carl, go with your mother, you can help her." Carl nodded and went with the other group.

Shane, Rick, Jon and Jorgia all trekked into the woods farther all in search of the little girl. "How far can an 11 year old girl run?" Jon asked, "I would've stayed in one place if you tell me." Jorgia butted, the others nodded but came to a halt when they saw a deer. "Wait, don't shoot it yet." Jorgia said as she slowly crept forward towards the deer. She smiled softly when the deer leaned its hand in the palm of her hand, "She's like an animal whisperer." Jon explained to Shane and Rick. They nodded and continued to look on in awe. They all smiled, but it quickly faded when a shot rang out and both the deer and Jorgia fell onto their backs. The three eyes widened and Jon rushed forward. "NO! Jorgia!" Jon yelled, he saw blood seeping through her shirt as Rick and Shane pointed their guns and Shane went into the woods and grabbed a large man by his shirt. "I'm so sorry!" the man exclaimed. Jon lifted Jorgia in his arms and the man told them where to go where his friend would help them. "His name is Hershel! Tell him Otis sent you!" The man said as he tried to keep up, Jon and Rick both ran quickly over the fence and to the white house in the distance. Shane stayed back with Otis and ran beside him.

"Hershel! Hershel!" Rick yelled, A man in his late 60's came out along with 3 women and 1 male. "Help, Otis sent us," Rick said breathily. Hershel looked to the young woman in Jon's arms and nodded, "Patricia, Beth get the room set up, Maggie get some supplies." Hershel ordered, and everyone dispersed. "Take her upstairs to the first room on the right," Jon nodded and quickly went up the stairs. "She's diabetic," Jon told the doctor, Hershel was shocked at the news and quickly began working on her, "She needs blood, what type is she?" "O negative, My dad is O-negative." Jon said, and Hershel's shoulders relaxed, "We need a blood transfusion, it'd help her." Jon nodded, Rick quickly left the room where he saw Shane and a tired Otis. "We need to tell Stephen," Rick announced, "Where is he?" asked Maggie, "He's with our group on the highway. Not long from here," Rick said, "You can ride with me to get them," With that the two quickly left on Maggie's horse.

Back upstairs, Jon kept padding his little sister's forehead, "Will you be able to save her?" Jon asked hoarsely. "I can, but I don't have much tools. I need more supplies, Patricia, tell Otis that he needs to go back to the high school and gather me some supplies." Patricia nodded and went downstairs. "Please, stay alive." Jon begged as Hershel began removing pieces of the bullet. "Beth, get me an IV cord so we can get the blood transfusion ready for when her father arrives." Beth nodded and quickly went to grab the supplies.

MEANWHILE:

"Just up above there." Rick pointed from behind Maggie. Maggie nodded and told her horse to move upward.

Everyone back at the RV was startled when they saw Rick on top of a horse with a girl, Rick jumped down and went to Stephen, "Stephen, Jorgia's been shot, Jon's with her." Rick breathed out, Stephen, Marcus, and Brent's eyes widened, "I can take you to her, Rick can show you the way to the house with your vehicles." Maggie said, Stephen nodded and climbed on to the horse. "Follow the road until you see a sign, turn left and it'll lead you straight to the house." The group nodded and Maggie and Stephen both went back into the forest and back to the house.

BACK AT THE FARM:  
Otis and Shane were preparing to leave back to the high school to grab more supplies, "In and out," Patricia demanded and the two nodded and quickly left before the sun went down.

Maggie and Stephen made back in time to see Otis head out of the driveway. "You be safe out there Otis," Maggie said, Otis nodded and continued on driving, "Your daughter is inside, first from on the right." Maggie barely stopped the horse, before Stephen jumped off and sprinted into the house.

When he saw the room on the right, he couldn't bare to see the sight of his daughter on the bed, blood over her body. "I'm taking it as you're her father, we need a blood transfusion. Your son informed me that you two have the same blood type. We need to hook up the IV and get that done before it gets worse. I've sent Otis and one of your men to the high school where they set up a FEMA trailer." Hershel informed Stephen. "Whatever you need to save her," with that they hooked up a cord from Stephen's arm and into Jorgia. "I need you to hold her down son," Hershel told Jon, he nodded and put his hands on her shoulders. When Hershel stuck the tube into Jorgia's arm, she began thrashing furiously. "HOLD HER DOWN." Hershel forced, Jon managed to hold her down, and Jorgia then passed out again.

While Hershel and Stephen were in the room, Rick and the rest of the survivors all made it to the farm without trouble. Daryl, Marcus, and Brent immediately went to Jon when he stepped outside. "How is she?" Daryl asked beating the two brothers, Jon shook his head, "They don't know if she'll pull through, she's lost a lot of blood on the way here," Jon explained what Hershel had told them earlier. "He was able to remove the bullet shards." Brent and Marcus went pale at the words, "How, what happened?" Marcus asked shockingly. "Me, Rick, Shane, and Jorgia were still looking in the forest, we came across a deer and Jorgia went to pet it, next thing we all knew Jorgia and the deer fell to the ground shot by Otis, the bastard barely missed her heart. Dad was able to give blood, We're just waiting for Otis and Shane to come back with some more supplies back at a high school." The three of them nodded and they all went to where the rest of the group was and retold the story.

3 HOURS LATER:

Shane had made a choice, a choice that very well cost someone else's life. He was running next to Otis when he shot Otis in the leg and left him for dead, letting the walkers eat his body and took the bag and bolted back into the truck and back to the farm. It was nearing nighttime when he had arrived back at the Greene Farm with the bags needed.

Rick, Patricia, Hershel, and the McCarthy boys all stood at the bottom of the steps, waiting anxiously for them to arrive back. When headlights appeared, a weight has been lifted of their shoulders and Shane came out of the truck, confusing everyone. "Where is Otis?" Patricia asked scared, Shane shook his head and looked down. Patricia cried loudly at the lost of her husband and was comforted by Beth and Jim. Maggie and Hershel quickly went upstairs and performed surgery on Jorgia while everyone waited downstairs to hear Shane's story.

"What happened?" Rick asked, "Walkers surrounded the school, Otis told me to go and get the truck, that he'd lead the walkers away. I looked back for a second and I saw Otis being attacked by the herd of walkers. Told me to go and save Jorgia." Shane told, no emotion in his voice. Dale could pick out the tone and suspiciously wondered to himself.

After waiting painfully, Hershel came down stairs to meet with the group, "She's alive, I was able to do the necessary surgery. It's all on her to recover." The McCarthy's all let out a steady breath and was able to relax their shoulders. "Thank you Hershel." Stephen choked out, Hershel smiled and Rick pulled him to the side to explain the situation that they were in.

"You can go in if you'd like, I'm sure she would love to see your faces when she wakes up." Beth said softly and smiled.

_Jorgia's Dream: _

_Jorgia woke up on a grassy field not knowing the surroundings around her, "Jorgia," a familiar voice called out to her. "Honey, wake up." Jorgia looked to her left and saw someone she thought she would never see again, "Mom" she choked, her arms quickly wrapped around her mother's frame taking in the warmth she held. "How is this happening?" She asked barely above a whisper. Maranda smiled at her daughter, pushing back her bangs behind her ear. "It's a dream darling," Maranda replied softly. "I miss you so much Mom, so much." Jorgia cried as she tightened her grasp. "I know honey, I miss you just as much. I've been watching you along your journey. We all have." Maranda said as she broke apart from the hug, and gestured to Jim, Amy, Jacqui, and her grandparents. "Mamaw, Papa. You're dead?" Jorgia asked shocked, "Yes, we couldn't manage to escape the Walkers. But not fret my dear, it's better this way." Said her Papa Ellison. "Is it? Is it really better this way?" Jorgia asked to the group in front of her. They all nodded, "So much, there isn't worry or wonder if you'll live to the next day. No more running, we can live peace here." Jacqui replied softly to the young girl in front of her. Jorgia broke down to her knees sobbing in her hands, "I tried to stay Jacqui, I wanted to stay. I wanted to, but Jon grabbed me. I didn't want to go momma, I didn't." The group all surrounded her and Maranda held her daughter. "I wish you were still here Mom. I miss your hugs, your singing, it's not fair. It's not fair to anyone that we're living this way." Maranda stroked her daughter's long raven hair, "Shh, it' okay honey. It's okay." "Jorgia, even though we all feel at peace here, you mustn't give up just yet. You have your brothers, your father, those survivors, and Daryl to think about, to help them." Jorgia looked at her mother's face, "Daryl?" she asked, "We've all seen the way he looks at you, we invade his dreams you know." Jim said jokingly. "He's willing to do anything for you, you know. Although, he thinks he's just trailer-trash, he loves you." Jacqui replied. Jorgia's eyes widened at the word 'love'. With a blink, Jorgia's scenery changed to the beach, looking out into the ocean. Jorgia looked around her, and only her mother appeared. "Where is Jim, Jacqui, Amy, and Papa and Mamaw?" Jorgia asked, Maranda smiled and grabbed her daughter's hand. "They'll meet with us later, they wanted to give us mother/daughter time." The two walked down the Florida beach shore. Their feet sinking in the sand, water up to their ankles as they walked.  
"I wish I could've saved you mom," Jorgia said as tears cascaded down her cheeks one by one. Maranda smiled softly, "I know, but it wasn't your time." The waves crashed softly against one another, sending a ocean scent to Jorgia's nose. "Will we ever be a family again?" it was barely a whisper, but Maranda heard it, loud and clear, and tears pricked her eyes, "One day, it may not be soon, but it'll be one day." Jorgia looked up slowly, tears once again streaming down her face. Jorgia could hardly feel her mothers touch, as she looked in front of her, Maranda, Papaw, Mamaw, Jim, Jacqui, and Amy all were fading away. "No, don't go, not yet!" Jorgia yelled as she tried to reach for her mother's hand. "No, please. Just a little more time. Please." Maranda kissed her daughter's forehead softly and a sad smile on her face. "You're strong Jorgia. Keep fighting, don't give up. Never lose hope. We love you." Slowly Jim, Jacqui, Amy, Papaw, and Mamaw faded away into the sunset. "I love you. So much honey, I'll see you soon." With that Maranda faded into the distance, leaving Jorgia sobbing on her knees. _


	6. Chapter 6

**3 months. **That's all it took for the world to go to shit, for an infection to spread like wildfire, for it to kill people and bring them back from the dead to feast on the living. Some had managed to survive, some decided to keep on fighting. But others, they couldn't handle it, they opted out, chose the path of suicide. How long will the dead keep walking? How long till the world is owned by the dead?

**Jorgia** lay peacefully after recovering fully from Hershel's surgery, Daryl overlooking her and admiring the way she would smile in her sleep, or the way her nose would crinkle. He would smile to himself of how peaceful she looked. Looking towards the sky from the window, he slowly got up and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead and left a few Cherokee roses on the bedside table. Next to the roses was a card made from a notebook that had a 12-year olds handwriting on it, "Get Well Soon Jorgia" was written with smiley faces and signatures from the group that the young child was persistent about. Before leaving out the door, Daryl whispered to himself. "Hurry up and get better, we need you out there with us." And left out the house, and into the forest once again looking for Sophia.

**Jon **sat next to his twin brother Brent on top of Dale's RV keeping watch of the farm. So far nothing had come up, and they were able to relax just a smidge. "Dad said he was talking to Rick and Shane tonight about leaving to Florida. Wants them to join us." Jon said as he sat in the camping chair, "I know, do you think they'd join?" Brent asked, Jon shrugged his shoulders, "Who knows, maybe." Brent sighed and looked out into the empty pasture, "Remember when we visited Papaw and Mama's farm in Texas, and we all rode the horses and Jorgia was stuck with the pony," Jon nodded and smiled at the memory, "Yeah, and she got so pissed because it was so fucking slow to keep up with us," Brent laughed along with his brother, "and when she would kick it to make it go faster, it'd bucked her to the ground." The two brothers laughed at the faint memory, but frowned at how they hadn't heard any new news about their little sister.

"I feel like a horrible brother to her," Jon said replaying back to when they had their first fight. Brent padded his brother's shoulder, "Don't sweat it, sure you said shitty things to her, but she still loves you." There was a short pause between them, "I guess you're right, but still I said things that I couldn't take back, and she got shot the same fucking day." The conversation had died down and the two sat in silence thinking upon them selves.

There were no words of comfort anyone could tell the oldest brother into not feeling guilty from the day he fought with his only little sister. Every second of the day, Jon would take the guilt and would wear it on his shoulders, feeling himself breaking within each minute. Jon's thoughts were interrupted by footsteps at the bottom of the RV. The footsteps became louder with each step as it climbed the stairs to the rooftop. "Hey," a female voice said, Brent and Jon turned back to see Andrea standing at the end of the RV, "It's uh, my turn to take watch." She said shyly, Brent nodded and smirked towards Jon. "I'm gonna go check on Jorgia. You two have fun." Jon rolled his eyes and fist bumped his brother and left.

Andrea smiled at Brent before he stepped down from the roof and into the house. Andrea sighed and stepped closer to Jon and sat down in the now empty chair. "Good afternoon," She started, Jon smiled and nodded his head, "Afternoon ma'am." Jon replied in a fake southern accent. Andrea giggled and blushed, "How's it been?" Jon shrugged his shoulders; "It's been clear so far, I'm surprised we haven't seen a walker in days." Andrea nodded in agreement, "I'm glad, it means we could all rest and just relax." "But don't relax too soon, that's when shit hits the fan. Take you when your guard is down." "I wish I didn't take down my guard back at camp, maybe Amy would still be alive." She whispered tearfully, Jon noticed the tense atmosphere and went stiff. "I know what you mean," he said sullenly. "Do you miss her? Your mom," Andrea asked, Jon sighed and nodded, "Everyday. I miss her every second of the day, but I know that she's in a better place now. So is Amy you know." Sobs left Andrea's mouth and she furiously wiped away her tears, Jon eyes saddened and carefully put his arm around Andrea's shoulder and she cried into it, wishing things were back to normal. Dale stared at the two on the roof of his RV and smiled sadly now that Andrea had a shoulder to cry on.

Brent sat in his chair next to the bed as Jorgia lay peacefully, every day after his shift, Brent would go into Jorgia's room and talk to her, even though she couldn't hear. He would tell her about what was happening around camp. That everyone was still searching for Sophia. It was always a one-man conversation while he was in there, but nonetheless he didn't care that she didn't reply to him.

The group figured that Brent was the quiet twin of Jon, even throughout his childhood he would be in the background quiet. In high school, Jon was the star football player, while he was the quiet scholar. When the two graduated, Brent surprised everyone by enlisting in the military and that's when he outgrew his quiet shell. No one knew of Brent's insecurities, only his sister. When Brent was home from tour, he would spend countless hours sitting by the tree talking with Jorgia. Jorgia was always the one that Brent would go too, he and her would always have that special connection, but when Jorgia went off to college and never returned phone calls, Brent felt broken that he no longer had someone to talk too. So he kept on being silent from now on unless he was spoken too.

Brent was broken from his thoughts when he heard groaning coming from Jorgia. Brent glanced over to his sister and saw her hand be placed over Jorgia's face. Brent quickly stood up and went to kneel beside her, "Jor?" he whispered softly, and Jorgia made a groan in response and slowly opened her eyes. Not knowing where she was, she looked to her left to see a familiar face, "Brent? Where am I?" "You're at the Greene's farm. The man who stitched you up." Jorgia blinked a few times adjusting to the surroundings around her. "How long have I been asleep?" she asked as she slowly rose from the bed, "A couple of days," Brent replied as he helped her up, "Have we found Sofia yet?" Brent shook his head no and sighed, "We've been searching for days, but we came up empty." There was a silence between them, and Jorgia slowly got out from under the covers and looked around the room. She saw white Cherokee roses on her bedside and tilted her head in confusion. Brent saw her glance that way and smiled to himself. "Daryl gave those to you when he would stay the night. I think he fancies you." Jorgia blushed at the comment and shook her head, "Fancy? Are you like British now?" Jorgia joked and Brent cracked a smile and laughed along with his sister. "You know, you gave all of us a fucking heart attack. No more animal-whispering okay? Rick, Shane, and Jon feel like shit for letting you get shot." Jorgia nodded and got out of the bed and walked slowly to the window, "Who shot me anyways?" "A man named Otis, he was a paramedic or something. Died yesterday trying to get supplies with Shane." Brent explained, the two sat in silence for a couple minutes before a knock was heard, "Come in," Jorgia answered, the door opened to reveal Hershel.

Hershel smiled as he saw the young teenage girl up and well, "Look who is awake, hello darling. I'm Hershel Greene." Hershel stepped forward and exchanged introductions.

"You had one heck of a week Ms. Jorgia. I would suggest you that you not do any harsh physical activities for a while." Jorgia nodded and wiped her forehead, "When will I be able to get back to doing anything physical?" Hershel looked to the young girl and gave thought, "Maybe after a week, or two."

With that Hershel left Jorgia and went back downstairs.


End file.
